There is a need for multi-purpose easily accessible and removable hand coverings both for persons with and without disabilities. For those people with disabilities the donning of a glove or mitten may be difficult; and for people with or without disabilities, the presence of the glove inevitably reduces the dexterity of the hands. Thus, for on-the-job purposes, sporting, leisure activities such as house and lawn care,, or even childcare, a glove or mitten is generally desired which can be quickly and easily removed and can then be just as easily replaced upon the hand to preserve its warmth.
Previous mitten and glove inventions have employed a number of different means to satisfy this desire. Some allow the user to open the mitten at the finger-tip end, pull the mitten back, and thereby provide the fingers access to the open environment, while conveniently maintaining a connection between the glove and wrist. Other designs have focused on allowing the user to split the glove in some fashion where it connects around the wrist, and thus to gain convenient entry and exit from the glove as a whole.
The present invention allows the user to pull his or her hand through an opening in the back of the glove without removing the glove, thereby freeing his or her fingers entirely, and maintains a hold on the user's wrist, providing the opportunity to readily replace the glove. The present invention also provides ergonomic ease in removing the hand from the glove by allowing the user not only to remove the glove by pulling his or her hand through a hole in its rear portion, but to do it simply by pulling down on the fingertip portions of the glove while performing a metacarpel flexion motion with rite hand located in the glove.
The present invention is useful for children because it is easy for a child, a child care taker, a nursery school teacher or a parent to place on a child's hand. In addition because the person can remove his or her hand from the mitten while still maintaining the mitten on the user's wrist it is ideally suited for small children. A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides an instructional advantage; because the child sees where the fingers or thumbs need to be placed. In addition the glove can be opened up and dried quickly, an important feature for children who often get their mittens wet.